Social Media for Ending Corruption

After discussing the many positives of social media in development, especially in countries facing a hostile and volatile political environment, it sparked my interest in researching other social media channels. I came across the website, ipaidabribe.com, and thought it related directly to our class discussions. The purpose of the site is express of corrupt practices to voice the public opinion when dealing with private governments and/or institutions. Currently, the website is used India, Greece, Pakistan, Kenya, and Zimbabwe with several other countries in the works. The site also allows for anonymity and essentially provides a record of “snapshot” of corrupt activity that’s occurring in a country to provide proof to back arguments for improvements in policy and to increase government transparency. This website is a great channel for using social media in the developing world facing harsh political regimes among other corruption. This sort of social media reminds me of the political uprisings we read about that occurred during the Arab Spring, and should be continued to be utilized.

One response to “Social Media for Ending Corruption”

This is such a great website, and perfectly embodies our discussions that we had over social media’s role in development. It seems like a great platform for people to express discontent with their government, and allow for people to voice corruption. I’m surprised that this website was not involved in the Arab Spring, and I wonder if the revolts would have occurred earlier or spread more rapidly if it was.